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I know very little of Ethereum aside from the articles that pop up here, but I'm trying to compare this event to my existing currency. I have cash under my bed

I know very little of Ethereum aside from the articles that pop up here, but I'm trying to compare this event to my existing currency. I have cash under my bed, i have it in 10+ accounts in financial institutions, and most of it is insured by the FDIC... so I've reduced my risk profile greatly. Does ethereum/ether allow me offline wallets? Can i have multiple accounts/wallets and easily administrate them? Is any agency insuring this yet? If so, then isn't this also user-error here? Don't allow a wallet of $X size that you can't afford to have disappear?

gnidan 9y ago
You can use a securely hidden private key mnemonic (12-word, high entropy phrase) on a piece of paper, along with an offline "airgapped" computer, to sign transactions, then transfer the signed transactions to a device with internet access to publish it to the network. That's probably the most secure method of managing keys yourself, assuming access to physical security. A good approximation of this solution is the use of a hardware wallet, which keeps the private key behind a secure enclave (USB interface, transaction signing occurs within the enclave) There's no insurance or anything like that, either privately offered or via government regulation. The crypto market is still immature, so I wouldn't be surprised to see protections emerge in the coming decade. In the meantime, there is no equivalent to a bank for crypto assets—the best practice is currently to manage offline wallets oneself. Certainly be careful, though, user error is a big risk!